Wednesday night (Jan. 21st) Baily tripped over a box causing him to fall into a wooden chair, hitting his face and chin which gave him a nasty gash on his chin. We had just finished eating dinner (PeiWei) and were about to clean up when this all happened - shortly before 9PM. Bruce and I quickly grabbed a few things for what I thought would be a quick trip to ER. I wish we took our time and grabbed more things because we were there for over four hours. The whole experience was awful but the boys were really good the whole visit (especially for being late and not having any thing to play with) and Baily was a great patient - until the doctor worked on putting in the stitches. I took a quick picture of Baily's chin while were waiting for the doctor to arrive. Here is the before stitches picture.
For all you who have not gone through this experience and would like to know what to prepare for when your young child has to have stitches (which I hope never happens to anyone) here is a brief account of what happened.
After the whole waiting process in ER (always be prepared to be at the ER with lots of toys, food, drink, diapers, and more entertainment books, coloring materials, etc. to last for a few days - cause that's how long it seemed we waited). Oh yes, now after the waiting process when the doctor and team arrive do not expect your child to quietly sit or lay still while they just look at the wound. Baily said no and refused for some time to let them look at his gash. Then after that the doctor graciously had a numbing agent put on Baily's chin which was done by putting the numbing solution on a cotton ball then taping it to Baily's chin. Of course it sounds much easier than just putting on a band aid. I had to pin Baily down (which was very difficult) while another put on the solution and all. There was a lot of screaming and fighting from such a little one. The doctor told me to talk to Baily and prepare him for what all the doctor and nurses were going to do next. I found this to me more for my benefit than Baily's. How was he to understand and agree to what was coming up next. HA
So now it seemed like a half hour had past when the doctor arrive with her assistant. The doctor was a sweet young beautiful lady and her assist was an army practitioner who was quite muscular. I think they brought him in to hold Baily down. The army practitioner placed Baily on a board and strapped him down like in a cocoon. I never realized how strong Baily was until he was strapped down like this. He was screaming for his life and fighting to get out - at times I thought he would. I did my best to reassure him, talking to him, holding his hands and all. Just typing this is making me sick to my stomach - I really don't like talking about it - but I think it is important for you to know what all happened. Baily was strapped in this cocoon for quite a long time as the doctor cleaned and cleaned the wound, injected some other solution in his chin and then the stitching came. Baily screamed with pain and fear - those screams were awful - and when he could he would scream out in a long painful, fearful cry "Heeeeeelllllllllllllp Meeeeeeeeeeeee Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Neeeeeeeeeeeeeey". IT WAS HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE.
Baily got two stitches and two band aid strips to close up the gash/wound. It was after midnight when we left the hospital. Bruce had taken Decker out and about in the hospital while Baily got stitched. All four of us slept in snuggled in our bed when we got home.
Not looking forward to this again.
